NORFOLK & SUFFOLK HARDY PLANT SOCIETY
Reply slip for holiday to Cotswolds 12th - 15th June
The price per person for a twin/double room is £385. Single supplement £25 per night
A non-returnable deposit of £50.00 per person is required by 14 January made
payable to The Hardy Plant Society, Norfolk & Suffolk Group and send it to:-
John Foster, Gable House, Redisham, Beccles, NR34 8NE together with a
stamped addressed envelope (8 x 4)
_________________________________________________________________
Reply slip for the Cotswolds holiday
Name/s ________________________________________________________
Address _________________________________________________________
Contact details (include phone and e-mail)_______________________________
_________________________________________________NT Member Yes/No
Accommodation
Please reserve me_____places (total number of places required)
Type of room required double____ twin______single (please circle choice)
Total enclosed - £ _______ (£50.00 per person for reservation fee)
Amount still owing £________
cut________keep this bottom half for your records_____________________ cut
Cotswolds holiday My Record slip
Final payment to be paid by Saturday 6 May.
Please arrange your own insurance for this trip.
Reserved________ places (total number of places required)
Type of room required____double___twin___single__(please circle choice)
Total sent £______(£50 per person for reservation fee) Date paid____________
Amount owing by 6 May £______________________
Why not read it on line click on the Newsletter Tab !
|
Month |
Diana Perowne |
Pauline Roberts |
Graham Allison |
David King |
Terry Read |
Peter George |
Met. Office Averages |
|
Hevingham Norfolk |
Wendling Norfolk |
Thorpe St Andrew Norfolk |
Brooke Norfolk |
Sisland Norfolk |
Pakenham Suffolk |
East Anglia |
|
|
May |
42.0mm |
47.0mm |
57.0mm |
43.7mm |
44.6mm |
52.5mm |
49.7mm |
|
June |
110.0mm |
119.0mm |
122.0mm |
115.0mm |
77.8mm |
112.5mm |
106.5mm |
|
July |
15.0mm |
25.5mm |
26.0mm |
22.7mm |
32.8mm |
16.5mm |
29.7mm |
|
August |
25.0mm |
26.0mm |
14.0mm |
22.9mm |
29.0mm |
37.5mm |
32.8mm |
|
May – Aug Total |
192.0mm |
217.5mm |
219.0mm |
204.3mm |
184.2mm |
219.0mm |
218.7mm |
|
Jan - April Total |
254.5mm |
303.0mm |
266.5mm |
261.1mm |
228.1mm |
187.5mm |
228.9mm |
|
Year to Date Total |
446.5mm |
520.5mm |
485.5mm |
465.4mm |
413.3mm |
406.5mm |
447.6mm |
During this ‘Summer’ period our HPS monthly readings appear remarkably consistent, although the total rainfall in any one month can be greatly affected by thunder storms. For example; on 30 May, Wendling had 25mm, on 23 June, Brooke had 52mm and on 28 August, Pakenham had 18mm.
Looking at the Met Office averages for East Anglia, yet again we have had a series of months with highs and lows in rainfall. In May, rainfall was slightly over the 10 year average in June it was double and in July and August it was just 58% and 59% of average. Over the four month period, June was the bad month with high rainfall, sunshine levels 73% of average and low day temperatures, but above average night temperatures.
Compiled 13,09.2016 by Peter George
Photo's by kind permission of John Metcalf
12th November 2016
Web site: www.gardenforumhorticulture.co.uk
Geoff agreed to talk to the Group at short notice when the previously booked speaker withdrew.
He gave a brief resume of his career writing for garden magazines and working for the RHS which included writing eight books and carrying out product testing before being made redundant.
The subject of the books included Propagation, Bulbs, Pruning and most recent Botany for Gardeners.
From his product testing he had brought a Burgeon & Ball Transplanting Spade for a raffle prize.
As we do not have a raffle he explained that he would ask a question at the end of his presentation and the spade would be the prize for the first hand in the air with the correct answer and that he would not accept a shouted out answer.
His first slide was of a Rhododendron for which he professed a passionate aversion to the species. In that it did not fit in with a plant that gives of its best for most times of the year.
Also he warned against the ‘impulse buy’ of which most of us are guilty!
His credo - Have a plan:
Choose evergreens and deciduous shrubs in a ratio of 1:3.
Have groups of a) tall plants,
b) infill plants
c) ground cover.
Regard bare soil as a sin!!
One execution of this idea was propounded by Adrian Bloom in his garden at Foggy Bottom when a variety of conifers were planted surrounded by many species of heathers.
(Which heather is the ‘hard of hearing plant’? Answer Erica carnea (carn ear))
Geoff recommended examples of evergreen variegated plants to add further interest:
Group a) Ceanothus ‘Zanzibar’
Eleagnus x ebbengii ‘Gilt Edge’, strongly scented flowers.
Ilex ‘Golden King’.
Despite its name is a female plant which produces berries if close to Ilex ‘Silver Queen’ which is male plant!
(Sex in the plant world can sometimes be very confusing).
Group b) Leucothoe Scarletta
Pieris ‘Flaming Silver’
Silver foliage on plants is very useful to highlight an area and/or accentuate other plants around them.
Plants that offer more than one season of interest, not necessarily the same season can be used in combination or as focal points in the garden.
Examples: Acer palmatum cultivars
Amelanchier species
Dogwoods
Cotoneaster horizontalis
Hamemalis mollis
If you want long flowering shrubs that will give 365 days of interest choose Viburnum tinus and a selection of roses.
Another long flowering combination would be Fuschia and Penstemon cultivars.
Herbaceous perennials that give long periods of interest at different times of the year that could be included in group b)
Helleborus foetidus
Hostas
Phlox
Flowering into Autumn Asters
Dahlias
And in group c) Dianthus
Euphorbia characias subsp. Wulfenii
Lamium maculatum
Bulbs and bulbous plants can be used in many combinations.
For example, growing through group c) plants or grown in pots to fill gaps that occur in a border by sinking the pot in the soil.
Examples: Alliums
Cyclamen
Snowdrops
Narcissus
Tulips
All bulbs should be cared for after flowering by feeding, removing seed heads and allowing the foliage to die down naturally.
Bedding
Begonias Summer flowering
Petunias Spring/Summer flowering
Primroses Winter and Spring flowering
Even Ornamental cabbages!!!!!!
Finally containers of any shape, size or material depending on your taste can be filled with any plant which performs for any season.
His last slide showed a combination of pots filled with upturned blue wine bottles to prove the notion that you can enjoy year round colour in your by consuming the contents of the bottles.
He then reminded us that he would pose a question with the spade as the prize.
“If you sat under the leaves of this plant you would surely die”. Name the plant?
After many guesses the audience admitted defeat. The answer:- A Water Lily!
So a second question was required.
What would you do with the seeds of Aesculus hippocastanum?
The answer: Play conkers!
Yours truly is now the proud owner of a B&B Transplanting Spade.
Len Speller